Friday, May 11, 2007

BET THE POLICE LOVE THIS

Theresa Sparks, CEO of sex-positive toy retailer Good Vibrations, has been sworn in to serve a second four-year term as a member of the Police Commission after a unanimous vote by the Board of Supervisors.The San Francisco Police Commission is made up of seven community members, responsible for creating and developing policies for the police department, as well as conducting hearings in cases of alleged police misconduct.

The above is a Google search. What it didn't say is that the new head of the Police Commission is a transsexual. Talk about fodder for the rest of the world and the late night guys, can't wait to hear. By the way, what is a transsexual? Simply, one gender (say male) in the head while physically being the opposite, i. e., a man who wants to be a woman. In San Fran, there is actually an organization with much political clout, the LBGT group (lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender)--not sure I have the right order here.

In much of my native state of NC, we think gay still means happy. Unfortunately, we make too much of a joke about a very serious subject, however. Although still much is unknown, being one gender but feeling that you're another must have enormous conflicts. It surely speaks well for San Francisco's openness/zaniness,etc. that it is all a part of life. My mother would surely be "shaking" her head.

Now here is something unbelievably fascinating to me. The new Police Commission head who is a woman, formerly a man, while a "man" was a Vietnam vet who was divorced twice and has three grown children. By her own view, "Sparks enjoyed dressing up in women's clothes from a very early age." San Francisco has the largest population of transgender people in the country. Overall, in the U. S., it is estimated there are 19,000. Is this more than we need to know?

A subtle lesson to me. We often never know what goes on inside a family or what makes an entity a family, if you get my drift. For instance with the new Police Commission Chief in her words: she's estranged from two of her three children. One has even done 3 tours in Iraq. In her own words, "it's not an unusual story for transgendered people. The children feel betrayed, embarrassed."